


Epilogue Q&As

by midnightstylus



Series: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Episodes 1-75 universe [3]
Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-03
Updated: 2013-02-03
Packaged: 2017-11-28 01:37:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/668790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightstylus/pseuds/midnightstylus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Descriptions of hypothetical Q&A episodes. These are from the same storyline as my other two stories, "The Last Two Episodes" and "The Pemberley Placement", and chronologically occur starting about a week or two after the former. Valid for the Episodes 1-75 universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Epilogue Q&A #1

The scene opens unusually today; we see an unfamiliar room in the background, with very chic yet understated decor. Lizzie, of course, is facing the camera. However, sitting beside her, looking remarkably at ease - considering he's being filmed - is Darcy.

"Hello, Internet!" effuses Lizzie. She smiles at Darcy, who inclines his head slightly in greeting as she begins the intro. "Well, I've been absolutely _inundated_ with questions since my last video, so I thought I'd do another Q &A session to try and satisfy everybody. And I have here with me a trusty assistant!" Saying this, she nudges him teasingly with her elbow. Amazingly, he actually gives her a teasing nudge back, which makes her grin stupidly. "My name is Lizzie Bennet, and..." she makes an overwhelmed sort of face, "there are a _lot_ of questions...this might take more than one episode!"

Lizzie starts right in as soon as we come back from the animated logo and theme song. "Okay, so the first question hasn't actually been _asked_ yet, but I'm sure it _will_ be, so I'll head that off right now." She gestures to the room around her. "'Lizzie, where the heck _are_ you'?" She drops her hands back into her lap. "Well, I'm actually in New York City, for my final shadowing placement." Darcy smiles fondly at her as she elaborates, "And guess who just _happens_ to own a studio apartment there?"

Darcy straightens his posture defensively. "It was a fortunate coincidence," he protests. "I travel here a great deal, it's efficient to own somewhere to stay."

Lizzie shakes her head at the camera. "Anyway, that's where I'm staying while I'm here."

Darcy turns his head toward her. "And are you enjoying your time in New York?" he inquires politely.

She looks over at him. "That isn't one of the questions," she mutters quietly.

He looks unfazed. "Yes, but I'm sure it _will_ be," he says, echoing her earlier phrase.

She narrows her eyes and shakes her head at him, but she's obviously not truly annoyed. Finally, she grins. "Well, the home comforts are pretty nice," she admits.

His eyebrows go up. "Oh, the 'home comforts'," he banters back at her, reaching over to take her hand. He brings it to his lips. "Only 'nice'?"

She stares back at him with delighted surprise and twinkling eyes, before turning quickly back to the camera. "Okay, way more than nice," she concedes. "I do have this _houseguest_ ," she continues, as he releases her hand, "who keeps jetting up every weekend to stay here with me." He smiles in response, showing a dimple. This distracts her, and she stares at him for a bit, enjoying the view.

A cut, and she's back to paying attention to the camera. " _Anywayyyyy_ ," she continues, her eyes widening in mock exasperation.

Another cut, and she's frowning with her head tilted thoughtfully. "Wait...how can you be a houseguest when you _own_ the place?"

Another cut, and she calls out, "First question!"

Another cut, and Darcy starts reading from a list. "Lizzie: how can you end up with someone who totally dissed your family? And how can Darcy end up with someone who rejected him so nastily?"

Both of them look rather uncomfortable as this question is read out - Darcy a bit more so than Lizzie, especially when he gets to the part where he has to utter the phrase 'totally dissed'. (He doesn't pull it off.) Lizzie looks like she's trying to frame a coherent response, but Darcy speaks first. "Frankly," he tells the camera awkwardly, still getting used to this vlogging thing, "I think I rather deserved a nasty rejection." Lizzie opens her mouth to protest, but he continues, turning to look at her again. "True, a lot of your accusations towards me were based on mistaken premises, but the way I behaved to you," here he flushes, "it was unpardonable. I feel awful just thinking about it."

Lizzie shakes her head at him, looking equally embarrassed. " _Both_ of us behaved badly there. I don't think we should try to play the blame game for that fiasco." She forces out a laugh. "And besides, both of us have improved a lot since then!"

Darcy has been shaking his own head in response to her point about sharing blame. "I'm not so sure. I've been thinking about it a great deal...the way I chose to express myself...and it was truly horrible." He looks apologetically into her eyes. "I'm quite embarrassed by it. And I shall _never_ forget the way you...well...'smacked me down'." (He pulls that expression off a bit better.) Lizzie looks abashedly down at her hands, and his mouth quirks a bit at the bitterness of the memory. "You told me that I acted like I'd rather have a hernia repaired than be around you. You said I was arrogant, proud, and selfish." Lizzie rolls her eyes at herself before looking up apologetically at him. He gives her a serious gaze. "I couldn't stop thinking about that."

Lizzie looks very uncomfortable. "Will...I had no idea that what I said would have that kind of...impact."

He raises his eyebrows. "Of course you didn't!" he assures her. "You thought I was an emotionless robot who only cared for my own opinions. My behaviour was so abhorrent that I was 'the last person you could ever fall in love with'."

Lizzie winces and shakes her head as if to erase her own words. "Oh...don't remind me of that..." Her voice gets very small. "I'm so ashamed of what I said to you. You must have hated me."

He tilts his head to the side, looking at her seriously, then takes a stray lock of her hair and gently tucks it behind an ear before caressing the side of her neck. "I would never _dare_ hate you," he says quietly, intensely. This is a phrase which long-time viewers will likely recognize. Lizzie and Darcy seem to recall it, too, as they smile at each other for a moment. Then he touches her arm reassuringly. "You shouldn't be ashamed at all. It isn't your fault that I came across in completely the opposite way as I intended." His eyebrows quirk sardonically. " _You_ were only acting from a lack of knowledge. The reasons for how _I_ acted, however, are far less forgivable." He sighs. "It _did_ take me a while to admit to myself that you had a point, and that my anger would be more usefully directed at myself." He takes a breath. "Suffice it to say that you were not the only one thinking they had 'sucked at being a good person'. I did a lot of thinking after I left Collins  & Collins - about myself, about how I am." He takes a deep breath, glancing self-consciously to the side. "I was an only child for many years...and as wonderful as my parents were, as good as the principles were that they instilled in me...I _was_ spoiled. I know that now."

Lizzie looks up at him in surprise - we've never heard Darcy talk about his parents before, and it's likely, judging from the look on her face, that she hasn't, either.

He continues. "I grew up like a little prince. Of course, I treated people well and shared my wealth generously, as I had been taught to do...but still, I ended up believing that I should only have _personal_ relationships with certain people." His tone is bitter, and he looks Lizzie in the eye. "I did tell you one truth that day: social classes _are_ a real thing." He shakes his head at himself. "But what I never had to face, until your honesty forced me to, was that this wasn't _right_ ; and that the only reason that it continues to be 'a real thing' is that people like me _maintain_ that status quo, setting ourselves apart from everyone else." He looks her full in the face. "You humbled me, Lizzie Bennet." She inhales in surprise, but he presses on. "Yes...I came to you with the incredibly arrogant presumption that you would be _delighted_ to hear of my love for you." He gives a bitter little laugh. "Well, you disabused me of that feeling of superiority rather instantly." He gives her another piercing gaze. "You showed me how much I had to grow in order to _truly_ be worthy of you."

She blushes, then frowns. "So...is _that_ why you were so different when I showed up at Pemberley?"

He nods. "Yes, I had given a great deal of thought about the sort of person I wanted to be, and I wanted to show you that I'd made some improvement in the areas you so despised me for...I wanted to make you think better of me."

Lizzie looks touched, but also, after a moment or so, faintly amused. "Really? To 'think better' of you? That was your _only_ motivation?"

Darcy gives her a knowing smile, once again giving us a hint of dimple. "Well..." he confesses, "I did have some wild hopes about where the self-improvement process might ultimately lead...but I thought..." he quirks his eyebrows at her, "first things first. Getting you to stop hating me seemed to me to be an appropriate first step." She laughs appreciatively in response.

A cut, and Lizzie's reading from the list this time. "So Lizzie, does being with Darcy mean you're going to get a cushy job at Pemberley after all?"

She reddens and looks distinctly uncomfortable. "I...don't..." she begins awkwardly, "Y'know...I haven't even finished school yet...and even then..." she shakes her head, "I don't think it's right to take advantage of a relationship like that." Tentatively, she looks over to check out Darcy's reaction to this question.

He's frowning slightly. "You wouldn't be 'taking advantage'," he tells her. "You've earned a position at Pemberley on your own merit." She snorts skeptically, and he raises his eyebrows in surprise. "I'm quite serious."

She gives a short, disbelieving laugh. "Will, all I did was follow your staff around for a few weeks. I didn't earn a thing!"

Darcy sets his jaw determinedly. "That is entirely untrue, Lizzie. Throughout your placement, the department heads reported back with their teams' impressions of you, and-"

She gasps and cuts him off. "They _what_? Of... _me_? _WHY_?!"

The eyebrows go up again. "That's standard procedure with any kind of student internship at Pemberley." As her mouth gapes open, he continues. "All the reports about you were extremely favourable." He looks very pleased. "Everyone was impressed with your knowledge; how generously you shared your own experiences; how quickly you picked things up; your insightful and intelligent questions; the helpfulness of your suggestions..."

Lizzie looks completely astonished. "That's...just..."

Darcy continues, "And what they all spoke most highly of was your enthusiasm."

Lizzie throws her hands up. "Of _course_ I was enthusiastic! Everyone there is incredible, and is doing amazing work! How could I _not_ get jazzed about that?"

Darcy nods patiently. "Yes...that's _exactly_ the attitude we want from anyone working at Pemberley." He takes her hand reassuringly. "Lizzie, you fit in magnificently with us when you were there. Relationship or no, I'd be a fool _not_ to take you on, particularly with your success at going viral, and your large fanbase; those are assets that any company would want." He squeezes her hand. " _Would_ you consider working at Pemberley after you graduate?"

Her mouth continues to hang open for a moment, then she shakes her head incredulously. "I can't believe you're actually _serious_ about this," she says in an awed voice. "Of _course_ I would!"

Darcy dimples right up at her answer, and releases her hand so that he can reach over and touch her cheek. "I'm so pleased," he says, with great understatement. A moment later, he flashes an even wider grin. "Why don't we dine out to celebrate? I can make a reservation at Corton," he offers.

Lizzie still looks a bit shellshocked, but manages to get out, "Okay..." She looks over at the camera. "I guess...we'll keep going with the Q&A another time?" She glances over at Darcy. "Uh...do you want to say goodbye, Will?"

Darcy quirks his mouth and raises a hand in farewell. "Goodbye, Will," he deadpans.

The screen goes black.


	2. Epilogue Q&A #2

We are back in Darcy's studio apartment in New York, with both Lizzie and Darcy facing the camera. Surprisingly, Darcy speaks first. "Greetings...Internet," he ventures awkwardly.

Lizzie grins at this brave overture, and takes over. "We're back, with more questions and answers for you viewers!" she continues enthusiastically. She smiles over at Darcy, and her expression turns thoughtful. "You're being a _very_ good sport about all this, you know," she tells him appreciatively.

The barest hint of a sardonic smile crosses his handsome features. "I am indeed," he banters back.

She laughs. "Why _did_ you agree to do this with me, anyway?"

He turns his head towards her and regards her for a long pause, with a serious expression which takes her breath away for a moment. Finally, he turns back to the camera, inhales deeply, and says, "My name is William Darcy...and there is nothing I would not do for Elizabeth Bennet."

Lizzie turns back to the camera, and for a few seconds, we see her face completely melt with sentiment, and hear a happy whimper come out of her throat, before the theme music and animated logo kick in.

When we come back, Lizzie has evidently had time to get ahold of herself again, and is reading from a Post-it. "Our first question today is, "Hey Darcy, if you still loved Lizzie, how come you cut her down when you found out about Lydia being arrested?"

Lizzie turns her head to look over at Darcy with great interest for his answer. For his part, he looks quite surprised. "What?" he exclaims, frowning and looking over to her for confirmation. "I did not 'cut you down'!" His frown turns even more confused as he catches sight of her raised eyebrows and expectant expression. "What?"

She gives an involuntary laugh. "You totally cut me down," she confirms, matter-of-factly.

He leans back with a clear 'that's preposterous' expression. "I most certainly did not!" he protests.

Lizzie's eyebrows rise higher. "Yes, you did!" she affirms. "You got all cold and distant...and you uninvited me for dinner...and you spent a lot of money to get me out of town right away!"

Darcy looks rather distressed at this interpretation of his actions, and his head has been shaking the whole time she's been speaking. "No...Lizzie..." his frown deepens, "that wasn't what I was doing at _all_!" He sighs. "I apologise," he says sincerely. "If I was...cold, it was with anger at George...and also at myself." As Lizzie scoffs at this last part, he nods. "Oh yes. If I hadn't done everything I could to conceal George's past wrongdoings, his...nature...would have been more widely known, and Lydia would have been aware enough to never have trusted him."

Lizzie shakes her head at this logic. "You did all that to protect Gigi."

He lowers his head and frowns introspectively. "Actually...if I were to examine my motives more closely, I suspect I would find that I was more concerned with not being embarrassed by my association with him." He meets Lizzie's eyes tentatively. "At Pemberley, you said you blamed yourself for Lydia's situation, but the blame should be placed more accurately on my own shoulders." He shakes his head again. "When you told me about Lydia, it was as if the bottom had dropped out of my stomach. I felt responsible; I felt horrible." He closes his eyes briefly, his expression growing more pained. "And having to see you so upset only made those feelings more acute." He reaches out to gently touch her arm. "I couldn't bear to see you in pain. And to know it was my fault...I _had_ to help. And first and foremost, it was abundantly clear to me that you needed your family, and that they needed you. As quickly as possible." He looks apologetically into her eyes. "I'm so sorry if you thought I was trying to get rid of you."

Lizzie shakes her head ruefully. She looks down and mumbles, "No...I just completely misunderstood your motives... _again_." Her tone is bitter.

He smiles sadly, inclining his head. "No, I can see your point of view. I was very preoccupied at the time. I was already planning everything I could possibly do to help Lydia, and I admit, I did leave very abruptly. I wanted to set those plans in motion immediately."

Lizzie gives him a tender smile, and touches his his arm in turn. "You're amazing," is all she can say.

Darcy lets out a breath of relief and affection. He extends a hand to stroke her jawline. "Not really," he murmurs. Leaning forward, he touches his forehead to hers and adds, "But if you prefer to think so, I won't complain."

They share a laugh.

A cut, and they've moved apart, and are sitting beside each other, facing the camera once again. Lizzie is reading from another Post-it. "Did you ever find out what made Bing come back to Jane?" Lizzie looks up at the camera with a frown. "No, actually, I still don't know, and it's kind of a mystery...after all that time apart, and especially with Caroline probably doing everything in her power to prevent it, it makes no sense..." She seems struck by a thought, and looks inquiringly over at Darcy. "Hey Will, do _you_ know-" she cuts herself off as she sees the expression on his face. It is, very clearly, the look of someone who _knows something_. She leans toward him, her tone becoming more aggressive. " _Will_?" She narrows her eyes and points at him, grinning. "What do you know?"

Darcy gives a resigned look and turns his head towards Lizzie. "Well...I may have...insisted to Bing that he sit down and...watch a video or two."

Lizzie's mouth drops open in surprise. "Are you _serious_?!"

Darcy raises his eyebrows and casts his eyes upwards. "I usually am," he observes ironically.

She frowns and looks away, her mind obviously working furiously. "So...what, he saw the Snickerdoodles video?" She looks back at Darcy, confused. "But _you_ watched that after Hallowe'en, and it didn't convince _you_ that they should get back together. It only made you think that _maybe_ her feelings for Bing were more than you had thought."

Darcy clarifies. "It wasn't _only_ the Snickerdoodles video that I played for him."

Lizzie looks, if anything, even more confused, as she does a mental run-through of her other episodes. "What other video would there have _been_? Everything after that with Jane had her talking about how great a job she was doing at moving _on_ from Bing!"

Darcy smiles. "Not a video of yours." Lizzie is now looking completely bewildered, so he clarifies. "I showed Bing one of Lydia's videos."

Lizzie leans back in her seat in shock, and her jaw drops again. "One of _Lydia's_ videos?!"

He looks amused. "You still haven't watched any of them, have you?"

She flounders and looks guiltily towards the camera. "Uh...maybe not... _all_ of them...yet..."

Darcy chuckles knowingly. "Well, _I_ have." At her gobsmacked reaction to this nugget of information, he elaborates. "I went through all of them after her arrest, in the hopes of finding some information we could use, either against George, or for her defence."

Lizzie's surprise has escalated into utter shock - in a good way. She shoots him an admiring yet disbelieving look. "That must have been an...interesting...experience!"

Darcy rolls his eyes slightly and inclines his head in acknowledgement. "It was rather a lot of...'energetic'...to watch in one sitting. However, there was one video with Jane in it which demonstrated undeniably that she was, and always had been, deeply committed to Bing." Lizzie again looks totally confused, so he elaborates. "It was when Lydia had run off to L.A. to see her. There's a video where they're discussing Bing leaving Jane, and she talks about her feelings for him...about their relationship...about...well. I'll let you watch it. It's quite touching." He gives a faint smile. "At any rate, after seeing that, it was absolutely impossible for me to think that her feelings for Bing were anything less than truly genuine. And of course, Bing's constant inquiries to you about your 'family' when you came to dinner after Valentine's Day made it obvious that I had underestimated the strength of _his_ feelings for Jane."

Lizzie is trying to keep up with all this new information. "So..."

Darcy takes a breath. "So...I absolutely had to right the wrong I'd done to them. They needed to be brought back together, and I was the only person who could do it. Once Lydia's situation had been resolved, I asked Bing to indulge me for a few minutes, and then I played both videos for him." Lizzie still looks stunned. Meanwhile, Darcy's eyes glance thoughtfully to one side, and he smiles at the recollection. "I've never seen him tear up like that. He couldn't get to her fast enough."

Lizzie smiles widely, eyebrows raised in a classic 'awww!' expression. "You did that?" she asks delightedly, but then frowns as a thought occurs to her. "But...okay...wait, then, what about that 'indiscretion' you saw at Bing's birthday party?"

Darcy's expression darkens, and his lips tighten angrily. "I now believe that was...an error of perception...on my part, and that Jane was, in fact, completely innocent." When one of Lizzie's eyebrows quirks inquiringly, he elaborates. "I...have no evidence, but...I suspect it was intended that I should see what I saw...and that I should draw the wrong conclusion."

Lizzie looks uncomprehending for a moment, but then the penny drops, and her nostrils flare furiously. " _Caroline_...that's what you think, isn't it? _She set Jane up_!"

Darcy looks uncomfortable, and speaks judiciously. "As I say, I have no proof...but...all the evidence points to a sincere attachment to Bing on Jane's part, and it's also very clear that your older sister doesn't have a deceptive bone in her body, so..." He sighs regretfully, and looks her in the eye. "I don't know anything for certain, Lizzie."

Lizzie's lip curls in disgust. "But it does fit Caroline's motives...and her MO."

Darcy reluctantly inclines his head in acknowledgement.

Lizzie turns her face towards the camera, cold fury etched on every square inch of it. "I think we're going to stop filming for the moment...I'm feeling an intense urge to do a lot of yelling and screaming."

Darcy's eyes widen nervously.

The screen goes black.


	3. Epilogue Q&A #3

Today's video once again takes place in Darcy's New York apartment, and once again, Darcy and Lizzie are sitting together in front of the camera. Lizzie smiles and waves. "Hello again! Here we are...again...answering questions...again." The words are long-suffering, but her tone is genuinely amused.

Darcy assumes a thoughtful expression. "To be fair, I don't think it's so much that there are so many questions, as it's taking us so long to answer each one."

Lizzie thinks about this, and sighs. "Hmm. I think you're right." She turns brightly to the camera, and says, "Okay then...my name is Lizzie Bennet...and let's try to get through more than two of your questions this time!"

When we return from the animated logo and theme song, Lizzie is, unsurprisingly, reading from a Post-it note. "So here we go: How did everybody react to the news that you were dating Darcy?" She smiles and puts down the question. "Well, Jane was _completely_ surprised. She'd been too busy...first with work, then with Bing...to keep up with the videos, so she didn't even know I'd stopped...well..." here she glances guiltily over at Darcy, "hating your guts."

Darcy doesn't seem perturbed by this reminder of her antipathy towards him. Rather, one corner of his mouth quirks upwards, and he glances at her. "Didn't you say that she even refused to believe you at first?"

Lizzie laughs. "Yeah, she-" She stops suddenly, and fixes Darcy with a piercing, speculative look.

He leans away from her a bit in reaction. "What?" he asks, somewhat nervously.

Lizzie cocks her head to one side appraisingly. "How _much_ more relaxed about things are you now, exactly?"

His tone is suspicious. " _Why_?"

A cut, and Darcy has on Lizzie's ubiquitous plaid shirt - it's tied around his shoulders, prep-school style. He's holding a script, and is looking like he doesn't exactly know how he came to be in this situation.

For her part, Lizzie is wearing a big flower in her hair and looking wide-eyed at Darcy. "What?" she exclaims in great surprise, in her classic 'Jane' voice, " _Darcy_?! But...but that's impossible!"

"Oh dear," responds Darcy, reading fairly woodenly from the script. "If _you_ won't believe me, nobody else will. Yes, I'm quite serious. I know this is hard to believe, but he still loves me." He gives her a brief expression which clearly says it shouldn't be hard to believe at all.

She almost manages to ignore his look, but can't resist briefly sticking her tongue out at him before continuing. "Oh _Lizzie_ ," Lizzie-Jane admonishes, "I know how much you hate Darcy. You're such a kidder."

Darcy reads out, "Okay, yes, I didn't-"

Lizzie cuts him off. "Stick to the script," she admonishes in a sing-song voice.

He gives a bit of a long-suffering sigh and starts again. "Okay, 'yeah', I didn't used to like him much, but-"

"'Didn't like him much'?" Lizzie-Jane exclaims with feigned incredulity. "That's not exactly how I remember it, Lizzie," she says, fixing Darcy with a 'mother-hen' expression.

"Well," ventures Darcy-Lizzie, still fairly stiffly, but he's starting to loosen up a bit, "maybe for some things, it's best _not_ to forget nothing. _I_ am certainly going to do my best to let that part of my memory fade away. Because now, my feelings for him are-" here he pauses, his expression softening as he reads ahead.

"Go on!" Lizzie stage-whispers to him.

He looks over at her. "Did you really say all this back to her?" he asks in a faint voice, wiggling the script.

Lizzie blinks. "Well...yes," she answers. She blushes. "I...sorry...I know it's kind of intense. I wanted to convince Jane I was serious, and so I was very...honest...about how I feel about you." She looks up at him, frowning a bit. "I haven't scared you off, have I?"

He chokes out a laugh, as if he's never heard anything more ridiculous. " _Scare me off_?" he repeats incredulously. "Lizzie, do you have any idea how much..." He breaks off, overcome, and instead looks into her eyes with burning intensity. Her breath starts coming faster. He swallows, raising a hand to her cheek. When he speaks, his voice is husky with emotion. "Lizzie..."

A cut, and we are still at Darcy-as-Lizzie and Lizzie-as-Jane, except that Lizzie's hair is distinctly more mussed than it was before the jump, and they are both sporting cat-that-ate-the-canary expressions. Determinedly, they continue the costume theatre from where they left off.

Taking a breath first to steady herself, Lizzie-Jane puts on an overexaggerated jawdrop. "This is...incredible! But you seem so sure! I guess...I have to believe you." She blinks rapidly. "This is...wonderful? But Lizzie...is this really what you want? I mean, are you happy?"

Darcy gets flustered again as he reads ahead. "Jane, you have no idea how happy." His voice shakes slightly as he continues. "I can't imagine that there are two people in the world who could possibly...be...happier." He looks up from his script to look meaningfully into Lizzie's eyes. She smiles back with equal intensity, then, as his look gets more smouldering, she quirks a very teasing smile. "Really? Again? So soon?"

Darcy instantly goes red and dashes his eyes studiously back to his script. He clears his throat awkwardly, and finds where he left off. "What about-" his voice cracks, and he begins again. "What about you, Jane? Will you mind having him around all the time?"

Lizzie's eyes twinkle at Darcy's discomfiture, but she continues with her Jane impression. "Of _course_ I will, Lizzie!" she bubbles. "Bing and I will _love_ it! Of course, we've talked about how nice it would be, but we didn't seriously think it could possibly... _when_ did this all _happen_?!"

Darcy raises his eyebrows. "Hm, yes, I'm very interested in hearing the answer to this, too," he mutters to himself as he finds his next line with his finger. Ignoring Lizzie's eyeroll at him, he continues from the script. "Well, it was a gradual kind of thing, so it's hard to pinpoint, but if I had to choose an actual beginning, I would say from the moment I saw his fabulous company-" At this, he rolls his eyes and looks back at her. "Oh Lizzie, will you be serious."

She laughs, poking his script. "Hey, that's _my_ next line!"

A cut, and Lizzie is looking at the camera. "Okay, we gotta keep going. Next question," she begins, starting to reach off-screen, but she's stopped by Darcy.

"Hold on," he says, frowning. "We didn't finish answering the last question."

She looks at him confusedly for a moment, then rolls her eyes. "Well, I didn't think you'd really want me to tell everyone about _Lydia's_ reaction, as it involved liberal use of the words 'mancake' and 'moolah', and at least half a dozen annoying euphemisms for sex."

Darcy smiles patiently. "No," he says, tilting his head at her, "I believe your audience is looking forward to hearing what your _mother's_ reaction was."

Lizzie's eyes go wide with horror. "Oh," she says. "Yeah. That. It was..." She gropes for the right word as Darcy raises his eyebrows expectantly, a look of amusement on his face. "Predictable," she finishes dully.

Darcy opens a hand invitingly for her to continue, and she winces, sighing.

A cut, and Lizzie is wearing the earrings, necklace, shawl, and the big blue sunhat, as Darcy, now having ditched Lizzie's plaid shirt, looks on with faint amusement. Her Southern accent is thick as she hams her way through the drama. "Oh my _dear_ , why on _Earth_ would you bring up that _horrible_ Darcy? Haven't we had _enough_ of him, with his _awful_ manners, and his _disagreeable_...what's that, you say? What? _Whuuuuuuhhht_?" She falls silent, her eyes and mouth wide open.

Darcy frowns as the silence stretches on. "Go on," he encourages her.

Lizzie swivels her head to the side to look at him. "No, I'm being truthful to the scene; this _is_ how long she sat stunned without speaking." His eyebrows go up, and she nods, shrugging. "I know, it was incredible, none of us have ever seen her shocked into _silence_ before." She turns back and continues her gormless jaw-drop at the camera for a little while longer before continuing. "Oh my gawd...oh my _gawwwwwd_! Darcy? _Darcy_?! That fabulously _rich_ and _tall_ and _handsome_ man? Oh Lizzie...oh how fabulous...oh my goodness...oh what _money_ you will have, my dear!...oh, even _Jane's_ wealth once she finally 'seals the deal' with Bing Lee will be nothing to _this_...how _wuuuuuhhhn_ derful! Oh, and I hope he won't mind my not having liked him very much before. Dear, dearest Lizzie! Oh!" Lizzie starts fanning herself wildly with her hands, escalating the melodrama factor. "Oh, lord! Oh, I'm all of a flutter! Oh, I shall _faint_!"

A cut, and Lizzie has ditched the costume theatre and is giving Darcy a displeased look. " _Satisfied now_?" He looks like he is refraining from laughing with great difficulty. She scowls. "Okay then, mister, let's see who's still so amused after _this_ question." She starts to reach out of the frame.

Another cut, and she's reading from a new Post-it note: "Darcy, how are you liking your new 'future mother-in-law'?" Lizzie puts the Post-it down and gives Darcy a disgusted side-eye. "Yeah, considering she's already calling me up to tell me how beautiful our _children_ are going to be..."

Darcy looks remarkably unperturbed. "I think your mother's behaviour has been..." here a twinkle hits his eye, and his mouth quirks, "...decent enough," he finishes, glancing over at Lizzie to see how she takes that expression.

She guffaws appreciatively. "Only because she's too awed by your money and the 'wuhhhnderfulness' of it all to do any actual _talking_ in your presence!" she points out.

Darcy shrugs. "She's your mother, and she loves you...as such, she's an important person in your life. So, I will always do my best to get along with her."

Lizzie stares at him, astonished. "Doesn't it _bother_ you that she's putting on the pressure for marriage? We've only been going out for, like, a _month_!"

He turns to look right at her. "Why should the idea of a permanent commitment to you bother me?" There is much blinking on her part in response to this, but he continues. "I am extremely serious about you, Lizzie, you know," he clarifies. She swallows, but still doesn't come up with anything to say. He clears his throat. "I wouldn't be so imprudent as to rush into marriage so quickly, but I cannot lie - I have given a great deal of thought about our future together." He tilts his head, looking at her appraisingly. When he speaks, it is in a tentative tone. "I...haven't scared _you_ off, have I?"

She exhales slowly, and looks up at him thoughtfully. Finally, she ventures, "I guess...not." She swivels back to face the camera, blinking in surprise at her own words. Darcy leans back, his expression exultant.

The screen goes black.


	4. Epilogue Q&A #4

The viewers are treated to a surprise when today's video opens - Lizzie and Darcy are still in his New York apartment; but sitting between them this time is someone else: Fitz!

Lizzie gives a huge grin and gestures at the newcomer Vanna-White-esquely. "Hey, everybody - guess who's in town this weekend!"

Fitz raises his arms triumphantly in the air. "Heyyyyy!" Darcy chuckles. Fitz brings his arms back down and raises a hand more normally in greeting. "Hello everybody, it is _lovely_ to be back on the small screen, here with my friends..." he puts an arm around the shoulder of each as he names them, "...Ms. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. William Darcy." He flashes them a thousand-watt grin and his tone becomes sly. "Or is it _Mr._ Elizabeth Bennet and _Ms._ William Darcy yet?"

Lizzie and Darcy both flush and make various noises of protest. Fitz takes his arms off from around their shoulders and holds his hands up defensively. "I was just checking," he protests with amusement. "Thought maybe you'd gotten tired of 'living in sin' here in the Big Apple," he teases. As they both shoot him 'don't be ridiculous' expressions, he swivels his head from one to the other. "Too soon?" he asks drolly.

However, neither of them immediately meets this last question with any kind of vehement denial. In fact, they've both taken a breath and then paused thoughtfully. Between this silent interchange, Fitz turns back to the camera and gives the audience a look of wide-eyed glee.

A cut, and Darcy and Lizzie have their attention back at the camera. Fitz gives another devilish grin and continues. "Anyway, good people of the Internet, _I_ am here this weekend, to take in the sights and the various warm weather festivities that this _fine_ city has to offer...and while I'm here, I thought I'd drop by and help Lizzie and Darcy..." here he leans forwards, widens his eyes, and raises his voice, "actually _finish answering your questions_!"

Lizzie gives a rueful expression. "Yeah, we're just not very good at moving through them quickly."

Fitz gives a decisive nod, and announces, "My name is Fitz Williams...and I am cracking the whip here!"

Darcy and Lizzie are still sitting expectantly on either side of Fitz when we return from the animated logo and theme song, and Fitz is reading from a piece of paper. "Darcy," he begins the first question, tilting his head in the direction of that gentleman, "How _did_ you come to fall in love with Lizzie?"

Lizzie looks very interested to hear the answer to this, while Darcy looks a bit uncomfortable at the personal nature of the question. "Well," he opens thoughtfully, looking down briefly at his hands in his lap, "I'm not quite sure. In one way, it was quite gradual, and in another, it...came crashing down on me." He looks over at Lizzie. "I believe I was already in love with you before I realised I'd _started_ to fall in love with you."

She shakes her head disbelievingly. "But how did you _start_? You didn't think I was anything great to look at...and I was always so _rude_ to you! So...what was it? Did you fall in love with my _snark_?!"

Darcy gives a small exhaling sort of laugh and looks at her. "I must admit, your quick wit was very appealing." When she snorts, he presses his point. "I'm quite serious. You're very compelling, you know." She shudders at this, and he frowns. "What?"

She makes a face. "I hate that word. 'Compelling'. That's what _Caroline_ always calls me."

Darcy inclines his head towards her apologetically. "I certainly won't use it again, then."

But the mention of Caroline seems to have given Lizzie an idea, and she regards him thoughtfully. "Maybe I was just the first woman you'd ever met who didn't fawn all over you, hoping to hook you and your money." As he quirks an eyebrow at this, she looks suddenly embarrassed. "So...you fell in love with me because I was _rude_ to you? Great," she mutters sarcastically.

Darcy's expression turns serious. "No, not at all," he protests. "I observed many things about you - your devotion to Jane...actually, your concern and loyalty for all the people you love, and your enjoyment of their company...your sense of fun, your intelligence, your vivacious personality..."

She looks rather astonished, then counters, "Not to mention my scintillatingly decent-enough good looks?"

He shakes his head. "That was an incredibly stupid first assessment. I obviously wasn't seeing clearly that first night."

Darcy starts to give her a lovingly admiring look, but Fitz, having silently observed this whole interchange, leans back deliberately to block it, and holds up a warning finger. "Ah-ah-ah!" he admonishes, looking at Darcy. "No canoodling this time, if you please...we have to move on to the next question!"

Before either Darcy or Lizzie can register an objection to 'canoodling', there's a cut, and Fitz is reading from the list again. "Darcy, how did your aunt react when you told her you were dating Lizzie?"

While Lizzie sighs and looks off to the side, Darcy's expression becomes taut, and he presses his lips together angrily. "She...expressed some...dissatisfaction...with my choice."

Lizzie snorts and looks around at Darcy. "'Dissatisfaction with your choice'? That's putting it _mildly_!"

Darcy's jawline is thrown into sharp relief as he tenses further. "Well, I see no reason to go into the specifics of the language she used."

Lizzie turns appealingly to Fitz. "He hasn't spoken to her since."

Darcy raises an eyebrow. "She was incredibly _insulting_ , Lizzie. If she can't treat you with the courtesy due to the woman I love, I see no reason to maintain any contact with her."

Fitz looks at his friend with concern. "She's your _aunt_ , man."

Lizzie nods in agreement with Fitz. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she's _not_ my favourite person, but..." she shoots Darcy a deeply apologetic expression, "she's the closest family you have, aside from Gigi." She tilts her head appealingly. "Didn't you say there wasn't anything you wouldn't do for me?" As his eyes widen in surprise, she leans towards him. "I _know_ how important your family is to you - I don't want to be the cause of any rifts in it!"

Darcy casts his eyes down for a moment, but remains very tense. At length, he looks back at Lizzie and takes a slow breath. "I...will consider it." Before she can start smiling in reaction, though, he holds up his hand. "Just...not yet. She said some things...that I cannot easily forgive. I need some time."

Lizzie looks into his face thoughtfully for a moment before nodding and smiling. She reaches behind Fitz to touch Darcy's arm in gratitude. Fitz, meanwhile, is looking pretty impressed at this resolution.

A cut, and Fitz looks at the next question on the list. He snorts before he reads it out. "How is _Caroline_ dealing with everything that's happened?"

Lizzie and Darcy both try valiantly to suppress smiles, but not quite successfully. "Well..." Lizzie begins. There's a pause as she considers what to say next.

A cut, and her head is tilted in a different direction. "Ummm..."

Another cut, and she's gazing down thoughtfully at her lap, frowning. "She..."

Another cut, and she's looking appealingly over to Darcy. "Help me out here?"

Another cut, and Darcy looks uncertainly at the camera. "Er..."

Another cut, and Fitz leans forward, taking over. " _I_ think Caroline has decided that she would still like a functioning relationship with her brother, so..."

Lizzie starts to nod gratefully. "Yes...yes! That's true." She gestures expressively with one hand. "So...she's being...nice."

Darcy looks amused, and cocks an eyebrow at her. "Nice?"

Lizzie looks calmly over at him and nods again, slowly. "Yes. Nice."

They all look back back towards the camera.

A cut, and Fitz turns to Lizzie. "Do you think Jane is buying it?"

Lizzie chuckles. "I think Jane is being as pleasant to Caroline as ever," she answers diplomatically. As Fitz shoots her a skeptical look, her expression and tone of voice become more honest. "Well, she _is_ , I mean...it's _Jane_ , right?" As Fitz and Darcy shrug and nod at the truth of this, she adds, "But...I don't think Jane is ever going to be quite as...open...with Caroline in the future, as she was last summer."

Fitz nods. "Fair enough," he says, picking up his question list again. "Next...how's Gigi doing these days?"

They all smile at the camera on hearing this question - we can even see a dimple from Darcy. "I think she's doing wonderfully," he offers. Looking over at Lizzie, he asks, "The two of you have been getting on well, haven't you?"

He's answered with a grin. "Very well!" she says enthusiastically. "I mean...she's busy with school, and I'm busy here, so we've only been able to text each other lately, but we've picked things up right from where we left off when I was at Pemberley." She chuckles. "I think she's a bit shocked at how much I tell her I tease you, though."

Fitz laughs, too. "Yeah, well, Darcy's usually a pretty hard guy to tease...especially for a _very_ little sister!"

Darcy sighs. "Are you trying to teach Gigi how to tease me?" he asks Lizzie, attempting to sound put-upon.

Lizzie considers this. "No..." she finally says, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully, "I think I'm actually teaching her how to tease her future _boyfriends_."

At this, Darcy's nostrils flare, but just as he's inhaling sharply to say something in response, there's a quick cut. Fitz leans towards the camera intensely and calls out, " _Any_ way..."

Another cut, and Fitz looks at his question sheet once more before tossing it over his shoulder. "Last question: How is 'Jing' doing? Do we hear _wedding bells_?"

Lizzie lets out a disbelieving laugh. "Oh, I think it's a little early for _that_." Beside her, however, Darcy starts to tense up and his eyes dart away from the camera, appearing interested in another part of the room. Initially oblivious to this, Lizzie continues. "I mean, it's only been, what, two months since they got back together? And, okay, yes, they _were_ together last summer...and yes, they _are_ spending every free waking moment together _now_...but still, it's _way_...too...soon..." She trails off mid-sentence, as she and Fitz have both noticed Darcy's discomfiture. Darcy's demeanour becomes even less relaxed as their attention focuses on him. Lizzie frowns, looking more intently at him. "What? What did I say? Why are you..."

Fitz peers closer at Darcy as well. "Do you... _know something_?"

Darcy draws himself up and looks back at the two of them, attempting nonchalance. "Know something?"

Fitz's eyes narrow, and he points a finger at Darcy. "Yeah...you are totally hiding something, man."

Darcy gives a derisive snort. "I?" he asks in a dignified tone.

Lizzie's eyes suddenly widen. "Wait a minute...you said you helped Bing go _shopping_ on Friday, didn't you?"

Darcy pulls himself up even further and turns away from them to face the camera, raising an eyebrow inscrutably. "Is this relevant to anything?"

Lizzie's mouth purses to one side, and she leans in closer, her finger pointing at him. "And what exactly was he shopping _for_? Perhaps... _jewelry_?!"

The eyebrows twitch again, and Darcy pulls his chin back into his neck. "I really don't think your viewers are interested in the minutiae of the male shopping experience."

Fitz's mouth quirks into a side-smirk, while Lizzie's jaw drops. "Oh...my...gawd," she says slowly. At this point, a cheery little ringtone sounds. Longtime viewers will recognize that particular sound as signalling an incoming text from Jane. As Lizzie whips out her phone and reads the message, her drama quotient escalates. " **Oh my _GAWD_!** " she screams.

Fitz chuckles. "Lizzie B, _you_ are freaking out," he observes.

She covers her face with her hands (and phone) and makes some inarticulate freaking-out noises.

Suddenly, Darcy chuckles too, and the other two look at him in surprise. "What?" Lizzie asks him accusingly.

"Well," he says, his smile beginning to broaden, "it turns out that your mother may have been right all along." As Lizzie's nostrils begin to flare in horror, Darcy turns to the camera, and clarifies:

"A single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

He grins saucily, flashing quite a lot of dimple.

_Fin._


End file.
